Displaying items by tag: Legal

Australia: Adelaide Brighton is seeking damages from a former credit manager over US$9m in missing funds. The cement producer has accused former employee Glenda Ivy Burgess of the embezzlement following an internal audit, according to the Advertiser newspaper. Burgess worked for Adelaide Brighton for 18 years but was dismissed in February 2018.

The allegations include misallocating customer payments, falsifying accounts, increasing customer credit limits without authority and providing false information.

The construction company launched a civil lawsuit against Burgess at the same time that a police investigation was ongoing. This has subsequently led to a clash between civil and criminal proceedings as the accused successfully petitioned the Supreme Court to delay the civil case whilst the criminal investigation continues.

Pakistan: The Supreme Court has ordered cement producers to pay for underground water used by cement producers near Katas Raj. Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar said that underground water is ‘very precious’ and added that cement factories using it near the temple at the site would no longer be able to do so for free, according to the Nation newspaper. The Chief Justice has also directed the Punjab Food Authority to audit local companies to assess how much water they are using and how much they are paying for it. The on-going case was started in response to a pond drying out at the Hindu heritage site due to water consumption by nearby cement plants.

Bolivia: The cement producer Fancesa has started legal action against transport industry leaders Oscar Reynolds and Macguiver Rosales over threats and criminal association, after they stopped transporting its cement. Fancesa earlier reduced the rate paid to hauliers to transport cement from its plant to Santa Cruz by 13.7% to US$1.88/bag (50kg), prompting hauliers to stop transporting its cement.

Italy: Cemitaly has been allowed to use slag and ash in cement production at its Taranto plant following an investigation, according to the Il Fatto Quotidiano newspaper. The former Cementir unit was investigated in 2017 as part of an illegal waste probe that examined whether the Taranto plant purchased ‘illegal’ by-products from Enel and the ILVA steel plant to produce cement.

Myanmar: Three local activists have been arrested for protesting against a new cement plant being built at Patheingyi Township in Mandalay Region. In late July 2018 local residents marched on environmental grounds from Mandalay to Nay Pyi Taw in protest against the construction of a 5000t/yr coal-fired cement plant in Dahattaw Village-tract, Patheingyi Township, according to the Asia News Network. However, police intervened and started legal action against some of the protestors.

Vietnam: Tran Viet Thang, the former General Director of the Vietnam Cement Industry Corporation (Vicem), has been dismissed as a member of the Executive Committee of the Central Businesses Party Unit and member of the Executive Committee of Vicem's Party unit. He has been found guilty of several legal violations as well as breaking Communist Party of Vietnam rules, according to the Viet Nam News newspaper.

Thang was appointed as the head of government-owned Vicem in mid-2013. He is accused of raising company debts of US$175m by the end of 2016. He left the position in mid-2017. According to the Secretariat of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Thang signed documents and took decisions that he was not authorised to. His actions allegedly violated local corporate and bidding law, as well as rules for Communist Party members. He has been accused of damaging the reputation of Vicem and the Communist Party.

The punishment against Thang is part of an on-going crackdown in the country against corruption.

Pakistan: The Supreme Court has stopped cement producers near Katas Raj from using drinking water supplies. The order follows a ruling in May 2018 to stop the producers using water linked to a pond near to a Hindu heritage site, according to the Pakistan Today newspaper. However, the ruling was not followed. The senior judge presiding over the hearing said that local plants had been using water without paying for it.

Colombia: Édgar Ramírez Martínez, the former vice president of planning for Cemex, will be detained in prison as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged irregularities in the acquisition of land at Maceo in Antioquia for the construction of a cement plant. The prosecutor’s court has also issued a detention ticket for Camilo González Téllez, former vice president of planning for Cemex Colombia, who is currently in the US, according to Noticias Financieras. Eugenio Correa Díaz, the former representative of CI Calizas y Minerales, which sold the property to the cement producer, will also be detained.

The former employees of Cemex allegedly paid over US$13m to Correa, despite being aware of the fact that the property was in the process of being expropriated over unpaid taxes.

India: The Supreme Court has ordered the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) to adjudicate upon all issues relating to the Binani Cement insolvency case, including whether Ultratech Cement’s bid for the company is eligible. The case will be heard by the appeals tribunal from mid-July 2018, according to the Mint newspaper. The NCLAT is the body that processes appeals from the National Company Law Tribunal, a legal body that adjudicates disputes between companies.

UltraTech Cement made a direct bid of US$1.12bn for the bankrupt Binani Cement following an auction in March 2018 that was originally won by Dalmia Bharat. Dalmia Bharat has disputed UltraTech Cement’s offer and the two companies have conducted legal campaigns to reinforce their respective claims.

France/Syria: Lafarge SA, a subsidiary of LafargeHolcim, has been placed under judicial investigation over its actions in Syria between 2011 and 2014. It has been accused of complicity in crimes against humanity and financing terrorism, according to the Agence France Presse.

LafargeHolcim said that would appeal against the charges. It admitted that the system of supervision of its Syrian subsidiary did not allow the company to identify wrongdoing. However, it blamed this on “…an unprecedented violation of internal regulations and compliance rules by a small group of individuals who have left the group.”

“We truly regret what has happened in the Syria subsidiary and after learning about it took immediate and firm actions. None of the individuals put under investigation is today with the company,” said the chairman of the board of LafargeHolcim, Beat Hess.

Non-government organisation (NGO) Sherpa, one of the plaintiffs in the case, said it was the first time that a parent company anywhere in the world had been charged with complicity in crimes against humanity. A panel of three judges in Paris has ordered Lafarge to pay over Euro30m as a security deposit ahead of the trial. Eight former executives, including ex-chief executive officer (CEO) Bruno Lafont, have already been charged in connection to the investigation.